Trials of a Trainer
by Jambolo
Summary: Follow the story of Jimmy Lander, one of the most reluctant pokémon trainers in history. Forced on his adventures by his parents, he now travels with his over affectionate Sandshrew and Pokémon rights activist (and totally not his girlfriend) Eve. On his encounters he will meet a variety of colorful and utterly insane people as he attempts to work his way through the Kanto Region.
1. Episode 01 - Kicking out Time

A cold breeze blew through the window of Jimmy's bedroom. He had never been able to get his window properly shut after that flock of Pidgeys had kamikazed into it. Jimmy lay with his face squashed against his pillow. His black hair stuck out in the rebellious fashion that all anime characters seem to and only with nautical amounts of hair gel was he ever able to tame it. Jimmy took in long deep breaths, clinging to his bed sheet, expectant, yet horrifically unprepared for what was about to come.  
His door swung open and two loud thuds signalled his dad's presence.  
"Waykeeeey, waykeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!" Jimmy's dad bellowed, attempting to prize a scrambling Jimmy away from his mattress "Come on son, rise and shine, today is the day you become a man!"

******Episode 01 - Kicking out time**

Jimmy sat at the dinner table poking some rice across his plate with his fork. Rice was pretty much the only food his parents ate. He looked towards the front door, where his parents had carefully piled the majority of his possessions. He wasn't actually taking any of it with him, his mum just wanted to start the redecorating of her new sewing room as soon as possible.

"-and I think that's everything!" Jimmy's mum said with an excited jump. "I packed you some directions once you get to Kanto and have packed your backpack with enough rice to last you a couple of weeks". Jimmy blinked and stared back at his plate.

"Is he still moping?" Jimmy's dad came into the kitchen, already dressed in his overalls "Come on, you're ten years old for Christ's sake, you should be ready to go out and make a man of yourself!". Jimmy slammed down his fork and looked up at his parents.

"Well maybe I'm not ready to leave home," Jimmy said "maybe I don't want to go out into a massive world with no knowledge of how to look after myself." Jimmy's parents stared at him for a while.

"I know what's up!" Jimmy's dad exclaimed, walking over to his son. Jimmy bowed his head, his dad always thought he knew_ what was up_. "You want to meet your first pokémon right!"

"No dad, you're not listening-"

"Well don't you worry! I have my top protégé on his way over as we speak." Jimmy sighed and slipped himself off the chair. Standing at only 4ft 6, everything seemed so big to him. He was a small, skinny ten year old boy with an adventure ahead of him. A terrifyingly dangerous, possibly life threatening adventure.

A loud knock at the door stopped Jimmy's parents mid caramel dance. His dad leapt up in excitement and ran to franticly open the door. A young boy, approximately 14 years old, stood panting in the doorway. He had long, spiky red hair and small brown eyes. An expensive pair of goggles hung just above his eyes.

"Peter!" Jimmy's dad yelled, grabbing the youth and pulling him into a hug "I haven't seen you since I toured Johto, still got that nervous bladder".

"It's a pleasure to see you again Mr Lander" Peter said, ignoring my father's invasion of personal information and bowing graciously.

"Pfft, you needn't bother with such formalities, just call me dad." Jimmy looked up with horror, his eyes wide and mouth agape. "I remember those days we spent together" Jimmy's dad said, pulling Peter into a tight hug "The naivety in your eyes, your obvious enthusiasm towards any challenge you faced, you were like the son I never had."

"Dad!" Jimmy yelled.

"Oh yes of course!" Jimmy's dad turned to Jimmy "You want your pokémon right?"

"Well I was kinda more worried that you-"

"So Peter, what pokémon do you have for…erm…for my…"

"Jimmy!" Jimmy yelled slamming his hands on the table in frustration.

"Yes, what pokémon have you brought for Jerry?" Peter nodded and took a step back. He opened his jacket pocket slowly and drew out a pokéball. Both of Jimmy's parents gasped, their eyes wide with wonderment.

"Today!" Peter shouted, raising a hand into the air "Jimmy Lander will be starting his adventure with his new companion…"

"Seriously can you just give me my damn pokémon so I can go!" Jimmy yelled, grabbing his backpack. Peter awkwardly left his magnificent pose and turned to look at Jimmy's dad, who gave a short nod.

"Yeah, it's a…a Sandshrew" he placed the pokéball on the table and walked to the door.

"Wait, there's no need to leave just yet!" Jimmy's dad yelled. Peter turned around quickly, a large smile creeping its way up his face. "I mean, we have a lot of decorating to do, but I'm sure if you and maybe your Smeargul help us out, we can be done in no time." Peter did a small leap in the air and ran back into the kitchen.

"But, who's going to like…drive me to the station?" Jimmy said, looking over at his parents and Peter who were in a three-way-hug-skip.

"Oh you have your pokémon now, you'll be fine" his mum said. She walked over to him and grabbed his backpack. "Now whenever you win any money, make sure you send some of it to me. I'll make sure it's kept well and truly safe…unless I see something I like…then I may buy it. But on the most part it will be perfectly safe from all the much stronger and more experienced trainers that are almost certainly going to prize it all off you". Jimmy gulped and reached nervously towards his wallet. Flinging his hefty backpack onto his back he walked out the front door.

After getting a lift off a strange man in a cape, who smelt suspiciously of almonds, Jimmy arrived at the train station. His town was small and of little significance, so the nearest pokémon league approved area was about a three hour drive away. The train was meant to drop him off in Viridian City, the home of the Kanto Pokémon league.

Jimmy stood on the platform, his backpack placed down next to his feet. He looked at the pokéball in his hands, contemplating the life that was inside it. He had seen a Sandshrew before, it wasn't exactly uncommon, but to finally have one in his possession, for him to control. He threw the pokéball onto the ground with a loud clunk. Jimmy stared for a moment, noticing the complete lack of a small monster emerging amidst a flash of bright light.

"What a dweeb," a snide voice shouted from behind him. Jimmy turned to see a short, thin, blonde haired boy walking over to him. The boy wore an expensive blue jacket and had his long blond hair perfectly parted down the middle. "You don't even know how to release your pokémon from its ball."

"Well I've never really done it before," Jimmy said staring back at the boy "I knew you were supposed to throw it, but that's kinda it."

"What a noob." The boy said putting a hand to his head "How can you ever hope to become a pokémon master if you can't even release your pokémon"

"How about you tell me how to do it instead of being such a dick about it." Jimmy said, handing his pokéball to the boy. The boy pushed Jimmy's hand aside and walked passed him.

"You press the button on the front, I'm pretty sure you can manage that."

"Oh right, thanks I guess" Jimmy said, feeling around the pokéball for the button.

"What's your name?" the boy said, looking Jimmy up and down.

"I'm…Jimmy" Jimmy said, putting the pokéball back in his pocket.

"Ha, Jimmy, what a stupid name. My name's Daniel and from this day on, you and I are rivals!" The boy raised his fist in the air, apparently waiting for some conveniently timed lightning that never came. After holding the pose for a good twenty seconds, the boy picked up his bag and scurried away. Jimmy looked at his pokéball and noticed that there was in fact quite a large button on the front of it. Making sure nobody had seen how much of an idiot he had been, he placed his finger on the button and slowly pressed it in.

A flash of light dazzled Jimmy and a small figure came hurtling out colliding straight into his face. He fell back with a small squeal as the hefty little creature latched itself onto his shoulder.

"Sand Sand Shreeew!" Sandshrew yelled, digging its claws into Jimmy's shoulder. Jimmy proceeded to let out a high pitched squeal as he attempted to get the highly affectionate creature off his back. A loud ding came from a loud speaker that soon drowned out Jimmy's agonized scream.

"The train to Viridian is now ready to be boarded, make sure all items, TMs and Pokémon are safely stored into your luggage, and we hope you have a pleasant journey.

Jimmy sat on the speeding train, staring out of the window at the world whizzing by. It was the furthest he had ever been from home and yet there was so much further to go. He opened his backpack to see what his mum had packed him for the journey. A small note had been stuck to the lid of his bag.

_Dear Jimmy  
I didn't have much time to put anything together, so here's some dried rice and some tofu. Just remember to get plenty of rest and not to bitch out of conflict like you usually do. Your father and I love you very much but can really do with the mummy, daddy time, so you can understand how excited we are.  
Remember to make lots of friends and take down any criminal organisations you may encounter.  
Lots of love  
Mum  
_  
Jimmy threw the note behind him and pulled out a handful of raw rice.

"Lots of love?" came a snide voice from behind him. Jimmy turned to see the parted blonde hair of the boy from earlier. Daniel was surrounded by a group of giggling girls, who all gleefully laughed at his garish gesticulations. "is the little baby missing his mummy already?" Jimmy sat back in his seat and closed his eyes. He was going to be the bigger man about this. Suddenly he felt a splash of water collide with his face. With a loud splutter, Jimmy wiped the water out of his eyes. A Squirtle stood hopping from foot to foot enthusiastically in front of him.

"What the hell!" Jimmy shouted, wiping his sodden hair out of his eyes.

"That's the power of a real pokémon," Daniel said, patting his Squirtle on the head "So much more sophisticated that you're little pile of mud!" Jimmy turned to Sandshrew, who looked somewhat taken aback at his sudden inclusion in the conversation.

"Sandshrew's with me," Jimmy said, patting him on the head "which means that he's already way more awesome than any pokémon you'll ever raise." Sandshrew contemplated this remark, but decided to remain out of the argument due to his inability to speak.

"Whatever," Daniel said, walking back over to the large group of girls. "I will leave you alone with your little pet, but mark my words, I will be back. For you…are my rival!" Daniel raised his fist into the air, causing his female comrades to swoon and blush.

"We haven't even battled yet you idiot." Jimmy yelled to the departing youth.

Slumping back in his seat Jimmy looked over at the large map on the screens in front of him. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the comfort of his mattress and that familiar breeze against his skin.

Suddenly there was a loud buzz, followed by an over-enthusiastic voice "The train will be arriving at Viridian City in approximately two minutes, all trainers better be ready to start their adventures!"

The wheels of the trains shrieked as they scraped against the sodden rails. Rain splashed down onto Viridian city in huge clumps that were just small enough to navigate the slight gap between Jimmy's shirt and his back. With a small yelp, Jimmy attempted to take his jacket out of his bag. As he pulled open the flap he was met with a disgruntled shriek from Sandshrew.

"Look, if you just got back in your damn pokéball you wouldn't have to hide away in my bag!"

"Shrew! Sandshrew!" Sandshrew shouted, attempting to pull the flap back down over him.

"Could you at least grab my jacket, I'm getting soaked out here!" Sandshrew little paw poked out of the side of the bag and quickly tossed Jimmy's jacket into a puddle. "Fantastic." Jimmy said, pulling the sodden material over his head. "Now where the hell am I supposed to go now?"


	2. Episode 02 - The Adventure Begins

**Episode 02 - The adventure begins! (sort of)**

After scurrying through a crowded street for over an hour, Jimmy saw a large red-topped building. He recognised the symbol of a pokéball that stood over the roof and the large sign that said Pokémon Centre. Jimmy was pretty sure that this was a probably a Pokémon Centre.

As he walked over to the massive doors, he was met with bright light and welcoming warmth. Of course this comforting mask was soon lifted as he was shoulder barged to the floor by a crowd of angry, shouting pokémon trainer. Jimmy looked up at the crowds of people queued up to get to the somewhat harassed looking nurses.

"'Scuse me kid, would ya mind movin'," came a gruff voice from behind Jimmy. An old man with a handlebar moustache and long grey hair stood gripping a mop and bucket. "I needs to get by you, so I can mop the floors y'see." Jimmy nodded slowly and got back on his feet. The man slapped the mop into the bucket and then proceeded to drag it along the carpet.

"Um, should you really be mopping on carpet?" Jimmy asked the man, who was now stood humming to himself. The man put down his mop and looked up at Jimmy.

"Are you telling me how to do my job?"

"N-no, not at all!" Jimmy said quickly "You just keep doing…that!" Jimmy backed away as the man began mumbling something about the youth of today.

Jimmy sat in a waiting room, watching the rain fall heavily down on the window. He wasn't too keen on starting his adventure in such damp weather, so had settled himself down with a warm cup of hot chocolate. He watched as people walked into the waiting room, nervously waiting for their pokémon to be handed back to them. Jimmy thought it seemed pretty silly for them to have a waiting room considering all they ever had to do was put them on a machine for a few seconds, but he wasn't going to question it. A young girl wandered into the room carrying a large card. She was a little shorter than Jimmy and had long purple hair. Jimmy noticed that the card had some writing on it. From what he could see the card read: _Pokémon are companions NOT slaves_! Jimmy nodded slightly, but thought nothing of it. He patted Sandshrew on the back and began to doze off.

"WHY MUST POKÉMON DO NOTHING BUT FIGHT FOR US!" Jimmy's head shot up quickly and Sandshrew was catapulted off his lap. "THEY ARE SPECIAL CREATURES GIFTED WITH GREAT POWER AND WE TAKE THEM FOR GRANTED!" Jimmy rubbed his eyes and looked over to see the young girl holding a giant megaphone to her mouth. A crowd of people had gathered around the girl, many of whom were either laughing or smirking. "EVERYDAY POKÉMON ARE BROUGHT IN HERE BATTERED AND BRUISED, EVERYDAY THEY ARE PATCHED UP AND THEN SENT STRAIGHT BACK INTO BATTLE!" Jimmy nodded, contemplating what the girl was saying.

"Hey, where do you get off saying we're wrongfully treating our pokémon," A man in the middle of the crowd yelled "You have a freakin' Togepi holding that sign for you!" Jimmy looked and noticed there was a small Togepi holding up a sign entitled _We Are Not Born To Battle_. The girl lowered the megaphone and looked down at her Togepi for a moment.

"Hey asshole!" The girl shouted at the man "Togepi is with me by her own choice so screw you!"

"Hey I don't have to take this crap!" The man yelled "I'm gettin' the officer, see what she has to say about this!" The man marched through the crowd of people and straight out of the room. At this, the girl began frantically grabbing her equipment and trying to put it into a bag. With all of her equipment haphazardly balanced in her arms she ran out of the room. Jimmy sat contemplating what he had actually just seen for a few minutes before the man came back in laughing to his friends. "Yeah she ran off outside, she's still shouting that crap to anyone that'll listen though." Jimmy looked out of the window and could see the girl covering her Togepi over with her jacket. He looked down at Sandshrew who was wrapped up warmly in his jacket. The girl continued to shout through her megaphone, attempting to find someone to listen. The only people that seemed to have taken any notice were the two grown men dressed all in black sporting big red Rs on their chests.

Jimmy's eyes drifted over from the men over to a large "Wanted!" poster that showed shadowy figures wearing big red Rs on their chests. "approach with caution" was written underneath. Jimmy nodded and looked back out at the men that were walking over to the girl. Something didn't seem right, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Holy crap is that Team Rocket about to attack that girl outside?" shouted a young man, who seemingly only spoke in exposition "If only there were a brave adventurer willing to risk life and limb to protect her!" The man turned to Jimmy and stared at him. "Well I'm not gonna do it." Jimmy raised his eyebrows and sighed.

"Seriously?"

"So I think I'll be taking your little pokémon," the Team Rocket grunt said, knocking the girl's cards onto the floor. "I reckon this thing'll be worth quite a bit. The Girl backed towards the wall and pulled the Togepi into her arms.

"Believe me," The other grunt said "we've taken pokémon from much bigger people than you".

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size!" Jimmy yelled, accompanied by a convenient clap of thunder. The rockets turned around and looked down at the soggy child. "well…you know…someone slightly taller?"

"Kid, you have no idea who you're messing with do ya?" One of the grunts said, taking a few steps towards him.

"Really?" Jimmy said with a frown "There are posters up everywhere of you guys, you have a freakin' giant red R on your shirt and you wear all black, you're hardly deep undercover!"

"You've got balls kid," the grunt said taking a step towards him and pulling a pokéball from his belt "but these are the only ones that matter." The man pulled his arm back and tossed his pokéball into the air. With a flash of light a small Ekans emerged. Jimmy looked at the man for a moment and then down at his Sandshrew who was suddenly paying attention.

"D'you reckon you could help me out here?" Jimmy asked. His Sandshrew nodded and leaped in front of him. It didn't seem to care about the floods of rain beating down on it, it's only desire was to kick that Ekan's ass. With a swift charge, Sandshrew collided with the Ekans, grabbing it by the tail, whilst simultaneously using its other paw to bitch slap it in the face. "Yeah! Go Sandshrew! Keep doing…that!" The Rocket grunt watched in horror as his pokémon fell to the floor with a dull thud.

"Your pokémon is freakin' feral!" The rocket yelled returning his pokémon.

"No," Jimmy said, pulling Sandshrew under his jacket "I think he just really hates the rain. Oh and by the way, A-Man-Who"s-About-To-Get-Knocked-Unconscious-By-A-Ten-Year-Old-Girl says What?" The rocket grunt stared at Jimmy.

"Wha-" The grunt turned around to see his companion face down in the mud. Before he had time to gasp the girl had smacked her megaphone around his head.

Jimmy sat down in the pokémon centre, a warm cup of hot chocolate slowly warming him through. The girl was sat next to him holding Sandshrew in her arms, apparently attempting to make some sort of contact with him.

"Shrew shrew," She said gruffly. Sandshrew looked up at his trainer, hoping for some form of explanation, but he just shrugged and left her to it. Jimmy looked out of the window and noticed the figures that were still lying face down in the rain.

"Umm, should we just like…leave them there?" Jimmy said, not knowing what the penalty was for inflicting grievous bodily harm on a member of a criminal organisation.

"They got what was coming to them," the girl said, now attempting to pinch Sandshrew's cheeks "I'm pretty sure There'll be fine, at the worst they'll have minor brain damage." The girl looked up at Jimmy smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"I'm going to be honest," Jimmy said "I am actually a little bit scared of you." The girl giggled and placed Sandshrew back on his lap.

"Well that's too bad," She said putting her cards and megaphone down next to her bag "because I've decided that I'm going to travel with you". The girl patted him on the shoulder and skipped over to the café in the corner. Jimmy looked at Sandshrew, who shrugged and nestled into his lap.

The girl came back holding arm-fulls of bottled water and proceeded to cram them into her bag. "Look," Jimmy said awkwardly "I'm not really sure we're quite on the same wavelength with all of this _Pokémon freedom stuff_." the girl looked up and shrugged. "I mean, I get where you're coming from and everything-"

"Yeah that's great," the girl said, rummaging through her bag "can you hold this for me?" she thrust a large shell and a bag of rocks into Jimmy's hands.

"I mean, I'll be glad of the company and everything, but I'm actually gonna have to like…battle and stuff." The girl stopped her frantic packing and looked up at Jimmy.

"I'm not necessarily against the battling," she said giving Sanshrew another pat on the head "I just don't like seeing pokémon made to battle against their own will. When I saw you and Sandy there, I knew that he was genuinely happy to be with you and when you pretty much froze up in battle he was ready to fight on your behalf."

"Hey, I didn't freeze up…I just didn't really know…I would have managed it in my own time!"

"Sure. But Sandy was there to help you out. That's what I like about you two, it's not one guy barking orders, it's a friendship, a feeling of equality." The girl emptied a pile of sand onto the floor and began pushing her many belongings back into it.

"So what you're saying, is that me and Sandshrew have a bond that most trainers don't have?" Jimmy began to smile, this was the closest to a compliment he had heard in agesm

"Sure, if you like" The girl said, closing her case. "By the way, I should probably introduce myself. I'm Eve." Eve held out a hand to Jimmy, who took it limply.

"I'm Jimmy, nice to meet you." The girl squeezed his hand firmly, causing him to wince in pain. After a second she released her grip and sprang up with great enthusiasm. She grabbed Jimmy by the hands and pulled him to his feet.

"Okay Jimmy, it's time to start our joint adventure!" Eve bellowed, dragging Jimmy towards the front door.

"Can't we wait until the rain stops?" Jimmy said, attempting to pull his jacket over his head.

"Nonsense!" Eve shouted "Rain is natures shower!" With a large tug, Eve pulled Jimmy out into the rain and onto the beginning of his adventure.

Jimmy and Eve walked through the muddy path leading to Viridian Forest. The sudden transition from such a built up, urban city, to an empty rural setting was somewhat jarring. This was not helped by the sudden emergence of an old man from the bushes to the left of them.

"I've just had my coffee!" The man exclaimed, ignoring Jimmy's shrieks of horror "I am now ready to teach you how to catch a pokémon." at that point a Weedle emerged from the grass and charged forwards. The old man reached into his pocket and grabbed his pokéball. With a great deal of strain on his frail arm, he managed to throw the ball towards the pokémon. The Weedle turned into a burst of red light and was sucked into the ball. "Of course you first need to weaken the target po-"

"How dare you!" Eve bellowed, charging towards the old man "You catch a pokémon only to serve as an example to other people? You teach nothing but hate and hostility towards these creatures!" the man looked unnerved and began to back away, Jimmy stepped back awkwardly.

"I only wish to pass on the words of an old-" the man started

"No!" Eve yelled, pulling fliers out of her bag and throwing them at the man "You spread an uneducated message to those that can't think for themselves." The man started to shake and clutched his chest "You spread a barbaric teaching that restricts the future of these creatures. People need to understand-" Eve stopped suddenly as she noticed the old man had fallen to the floor shaking.

"Umm is he okay-" Jimmy started.

"He's fine!" Eve said nervously, patting the man on the shoulder. The man let out a moan and rolled over onto his back. "Yeah I don't think we should stick around here." Eve grabbed Jimmy by the wrist and quickly sped away.

"Bloody…kids" The man gasped.


	3. Episode 3 - Battles before Bedtime

**Episode 03 - Battles Before Bedtime**.

"So really, with that in mind, it's obvious that Tidus is actually one of the most developed characters in the final fantasy franchise!" Eve said, splashing into large puddles in the middle of the path, closely followed by her embarrassed looking Togepi.

"That's great and everything," Jimmy said, carefully avoiding Eve's puddle splash "but that doesn't really answer my question."

"Which was?" Eve said, bending down to pick up an odd looking mushroom.

"Is that old guy going to be alright?" Eve looked up and shoved the mushroom into her bag.

"I'm sure he will be," Eve said jumping back onto the path "Old people always try that _silly Oh no I'm having a heart attack _thing. Just like my uncle Barry, before he went on that really long business trip." Eve's words did not fill Jimmy with confidence, but he decided it best not to think about it for now.

"So where exactly is the entrance to this place?" Jimmy's bag shook violently and there was a sound of scurrying "And could you possibly stop kicking puddles about, I don't think Sandshrew likes it." Eve froze suddenly and turned to Jimmy. Tears began to trickle down her face as she grabbed for Jimmy's bag. With a huge tug, she pulled Sandshrew out of the bag and clutched him to her chest.

"I'm sorry Sandy!" She shouted, her eyes already bloodshot "I didn't know you were hiding from me, I never meant to do anything to- to hurt you!" Sandshrew gave Jimmy a pleading look, but Jimmy shook his head and took a few steps back.

Togepi tugged at Jimmy's leg for a second and signalled for him to move on. "So…" Jimmy said, awkwardly swinging his arms towards the direction he wanted to head "are we going to…" he continued to gesture. Eve looked up, nodded and wiped a hand across her nose.

After about an hour of awkwardly trailing through muddy countryside, Jimmy and Eve arrived at a small building in front of a large wooded area. A couple of trainers stood outside the building, apparently sizing up the situation.

"I'm just saying, it might be easier to go around", one of them said, clicking his fingers three times. He was a young trainer, around the age of 13. He had long blonde hair that hung perfectly over his left eye and wore a red polo neck. It seems tragic that I don't give him any form of back story, but alas, he is not a character of any importance, thus he will be referred to only as "OCD boy". The young man across from him had scruffy red hair and slightly torn clothes. Much like OCD boy, he has no real point in the plot of this story and will be dubbed with the title ADHD boy.

"No! No!" ADHD boy shouted, jumping up and down in frustration "There is a small tree blocking the path, there is no conceivable way of going past - Wow that cloud is massive!" The boy leapt up and started clawing at the sky. OCD boy shook his head and sat down on the muddy ground. Upon seeing Jimmy and Eve walking by, OCD boy leapt back up and attempted to grab his friend.

"Come on, move! Those trainers look like they're gonna battle us!" OCD boy said, clicking his fingers three times. ADHD stopped suddenly and stared at Jimmy and Eve, who had now stopped just in front of them.

"Umm, is this Viridian Forest?" Jimmy asked awkwardly, as the two youths looked at them with horror.

"My pokémon are all unconscious!" OCD boy shouted quickly, clicking his fingers three times "I can't fight if my pokémon can't, so you have to leave me alone, right, right?!" Jimmy blinked and then turned to Eve.

"Your pokémon are unconscious and you're not doing anything to revive them?!" Eve shouted, towering over the OCD boy. Jimmy decided to step back as he was already well accustomed to Eve's rage. Suddenly he was tackled to the ground by ADHD boy. Jimmy let out a loud yelp and attempted to get back onto his feet.

"Now it's your turn!" ADHD boy said, hopping up and down enthusiastically "I bet you can't knock me down, no one can, I'm far too awesome to even - Oh wow is that a four leaf clover?" Jimmy watched the youth thrashing around on the ground. Before he knew it he was being dragged by the arm into a bombardment of shouting and name calling.

"Dude help me out," OCD boy said to him "she keeps interrupting me and my fingers can't take the strain!" The youth winced as he clicked his fingers three times. Jimmy looked at Eve who was in the middle of a rant about the long term effects of pokémon concussion. He ran over to her and grabbed her by the arm.

"Alright," Jimmy said as Eve continued to lurch at the youth "I think they get the point." Jimmy dragged Eve over to the build, opened the door and pulled her through it.

"Wow, those guys were pretty insane." OCD boy said, clicking his fingers and sitting back on the ground.

"Dude, you nearly got beaten up by a girl, that is so - whoa I have a freakin' freckle on my arm!" ADHD boy waved his arm in the air and started making plane noises. OCD boy sighed and then noticed his hair was out of place. He spent the next 30 minutes (precisely) brushing it.

The entrance building to Viridian Forest was built rather like a small pokémon centre. People were stood around comparing pokémon and readying their items for the hardships they were bound to face. Eve had finally cooled down and had run over to the shop to buy the severely overpriced medical items. Jimmy sat down on a large bench in the middle of the building. Sandshrew popped his head out of his backpack, noticed the building was dry and wriggled his way out.

"You're still rolling with a dweeby little Sandshrew?" came a voice from behind him. Jimmy turned to see the smug, blonde haired, pain-in-the-ass. Daniel smirked and sat down next to Jimmy, making sure that everyone could see the large number of pokéballs hanging from his waist. "That's right," Daniel said, in a voice loud enough for the entire building to hear "I have already caught _three_ pokémon!" Daniel looked around gleefully, obviously hoping for people to be marvelling at his prowess as a pokémon trainer. Eve wandered over and noticed that Jimmy had company.

"Is this a friend of yours?" Eve asked, her arms ladened with potions. Daniel turned and then looked Eve up and down. His smile grew wider.

"Quite a hot bit of tail you've got with you," Daniel said, slicking his hair back "I suppose she's your _girlfriend_?"

"No, she's not my girlfriend." Jimmy said quickly.

"Figures" Daniel said, standing up and gesturing to his seat "Please, I wasn't planning on sticking around for too long anyway, some of us have to go out and become-" Daniel raised his fist into the air enthusiastically "Pokémon master!" Daniel walked off towards the exit.

"So…you were pretty quick to say I wasn't your girlfriend," Eve said cracking her knuckles "What? You think you can do better than me?" Jimmy sighed and bowed his head. There was a loud noise of shouting and cursing from the entrance. Jimmy looked up to see Daniel walking back over to him.

"So yeah, turns out no one's permitted to enter the forest after 9." Daniel said, standing awkwardly in front of them.

"Oh right," Jimmy said, twiddling his thumbs and avoiding eye contact "so what are you going to-"

"I don't know," Daniel said "I was kind of banking on insulting you and then leaving you…this is…kinda awkward." Daniel clicked his tongue for a second and then a thought suddenly came to him. "I know, we can battle!" Daniel shouted pointing his finger into Jimmy's face.

"Really?" Jimmy said with a wince "Isn't it like…you know…bed time?

"A true trainer never sleeps!" Daniel exclaimed "They must always be ready to face any danger, fight any battle, defeat any foe-"

"Alright!" Jimmy yelled standing up quickly "If It'll shut you up."

Jimmy and Daniel stood outside facing each other. Daniel placed his hand by his belt, considering which of his pokémon to send out. ADHD boy stood in the middle of the boys and yelled to the assembled crowd (that consisted of Eve, Togepi and a random drunk guy)

"On the count of three you will both send your pokémon into battle. If your pokémon is knocked unconscious or refuses to listen to you, then it will no longer be capable of battle. On my count! One, two Thr- oh awesome the drunk guy's being sick!" ADHD boy gleefully ran over and pushed the drunken guy onto the floor and then proceeded to leapfrog over him. OCD boy walked on nervously and decided to take over.

"Okay on the count of three!" OCD boy said, clicking his fingers three times. "One" *click click click* "Two" *click click click click* "Oh crap I did it too many times!"

"For god's sake just do it already!" The drunken guy shouted, throwing an empty can of special brew onto the field.

Jimmy nodded to Sanshrew, who leapt from his side onto the field. Daniel reached towards his belt and grabbed his pokéball.

"Too bad," Daniel said, looking down at Sandshrew "ground pokémon are so easy to beat. Daniel pulled back his arm and raised it into the air "Go Squirtle!" with a great deal of force, he threw the pokéball into the air. With a burst of light, Squirtle gleefully landed on the ground. "Nice one Squirtle," Daniel said, pointing over to Sandshrew "hit Sandshrew with bubble!" Squirtle exhaled deeply and then blew a spray of bubbles over Sandshrew. He let out a squeal and covered his eyes with his paws. Daniel began to laugh and then pointed at Jimmy "You've gotta tell your pokémon what to do if you wanna have any hope of winning!" Daniel shouted "Now Squirtle, hit him with another blast of bubbles!" Jimmy watched carefully as Squirtle began to inhale. A heavy weight had appeared in his stomach and his words didn't seem to be coming out. The Squirtle released another barrage of bubbles that caused Sandshrew to tumble over.

"Don't give up Sandy!" Eve shouted, waving her arms enthusiastically. "Seriously Jimmy, man up and do something!"

"This is too easy," Daniel said with a chortle "Squirtle, you know what to do." Squirtle began to inhale again. Jimmy looked up quickly and shouted.

"Sandshrew, poison sting!" Sandshrew quickly got back up and charged towards Squirtle. Squirtles chest was now puffed out, ready to release the bubbles. With a swift jab, Sandshrew slammed his claw into Squirtles chest. Squirtle coughed and fell back, apparently dazed by the sudden strike.

"That was a lucky shot, you can do this Squirtle!" Daniel shouted "Quick, hit him with a water gun!"

"-Sand attack Sandshrew!" Jimmy yelled. Sanshrew slammed his paw into the ground and swung a large clump of soil into Squirtle's face. "Now hit him with a fury attack!" Sandshrew began to scratch wildly at the Squirtle, who fell back onto its back.

"Squirtle, try and hit it with a bubb-"

"-Finish him with a scratch attack!" Sandshrew swiped his claw and back-handed the Squirtle around the face. Squirtle landed with a thud on the ground, completely unconscious. "I- I did it!" Jimmy yelled, running over to Sandshrew and picking him up off the ground "I won my first pokémon battle-"

"Ahem!" Daniel said loudly, returning his Squirtle to his pokéball and gesturing to his belt "I think you'll find I have two other pokémon."

Jimmy sat in the entrance to Viridian Forest. He had handed Sandshrew over to Nurse Joy who was giving him the necessary medical treatment. Eve stood behind him shaking her head.

"You've gotta be more in sync with Sandy's moves if you ever want to win a battle." Eve said, grabbing a rice ball out of her bag. She handed it to Jimmy and patted him on the shoulder. "But for such an early battle, you did alright, plus you didn't push Sandy too hard, which is all that counts." Jimmy nodded and sat down on the bench.

"I really thought I'd won," Jimmy said, running a hand through his hair "I think that's the worst part."

"You did win," Eve said with a smile "Morally speaking. You had a bond with Sanshrew that helped you out a hell of a lot. Of course in every other sense you lost like a total loser who has forgotten what winning even feels like, but morally, you're a real hero."

"Jimmy Lander?" The nurse said, placing a pokéball on the desk "Your Sandshrew is fully healed, we hope to see you again!" Jimmy picked up the pokéball and walked away from the desk. Eve began to shout something about how the nurse's were encouraging people to bring back beaten pokémon, but Jimmy was paying no attention. He threw the pokéball onto the floor and with a burst of light, Sandshrew emerged. Jimmy picked him up and placed him on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Sandshrew," He said, watching Eve attempt to throw herself over the counter. "We'll get him next time."


	4. Episode 4 - Shockingly Awkward

**Episode 04 – Shockingly Awkward**

"So that's when I started wondering, what actually does go on inside a pokéball, I mean it can't be a seriously horrifying experience, otherwise the pokémon would probably scream in horror when they are brought back inside." Eve buttered her toast thoughtfully, "then again, if it was that great an experience then they probably wouldn't be so happy to come out of their pokéballs." Jimmy blinked slowly; this was more than anyone could handle at 6am on a Sunday. He nibbled at the corner of his toast, his stomach letting out noisy objections as he swallowed.

"Do we really have to be up so early, I didn't settle down until at least past 11 last night."

"You can't spend your whole life sleeping, there's a big beautiful world out there just waiting to be explored!" Jimmy's eyes drifted over to the window where torrents of rain smashed against the window.

"Seriously?"

"If weather is enough to keep you inside then I'm surprised you even managed to leave home." Jimmy thought back to his comfortable bed, his warm sheets and his parents. He then remembered that his parents are completely mental and the majority of his homesickness was swiftly washed away. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Jimmy stood up, grabbed his bag and poked his snoozing Sandshrew, who woke up long enough to clamber into Jimmy's bag, burrow its way to the bottom and fall straight off to sleep again.

"Come on then, let's get going."

"Give me a second, I just need to get ready" Eve said, grabbing her bag and running off to the bathroom.

Two hours later, she was ready to leave.

Thankfully the rain had mostly subsided, dripping only small droplets of water that seemed to be carefully navigated by the wind to collide with Jimmy's face. Eve was wearing her nice shoes so avoided jumping in the puddles, opting to instead throw food to the local Pidgeys, who had now taken a particular interest in Jimmy's hair.

As they reached the entrance of Viridian Forest Jimmy noticed that a few trainers were already queuing up to go inside, one of which, was the all too familiar blonde-haired douche-bag, Daniel. It didn't take long for Daniel to catch sight of him.

"Well look who it is, if it isn't the _LOSER _from last night," The group standing around Daniel started to laugh enthusiastically, "what's wrong LOSER are you here to LOSE again?"

"I can't believe he only has one pokémon." One of the boys shouted.

"Yeah and a ground type of all things" chimed in another.

"He makes me feel better about my crippling lack of any self-worth," laughed one of the slightly more dead-eyed boys.

"Why the hell are you guys even waiting out here?" Jimmy asked, treading carefully over the damp, unconscious drunkard from last night "I would have thought you'd have been half way through the forest by now." Daniel scoffed, and flicked his hair out of his eyes

"Obviously I was waiting here to humiliate you, LOSER." Daniel turned to his friends for a response, but it seemed that the joke had finally run its course "I simply wanted to make sure that you started your day remembering how much of a failure you actually are." The group of boys chuckled menacingly and Jimmy ran a hand through his hair, this was a seriously crappy morning.

"Well there's one thing you didn't think of." Eve chimed in. The boys' heads turned at the presence of a female, their menacing laughs replaced by the silence of awkward shyness. Daniel was made of stronger stuff however and managed to respond without vomiting everywhere.

"And...what would that be?"

"Well, now that Jimmy and I are here, we'll probably all have to enter the forest together, which is gonna be SUPER awkward." Jimmy turned to Eve wide eyed and then swiftly turned to Daniel, who had the same wide eyed expression on his face. There was only one way into the forest and for the most part the path is in the same direction, they'd be walking together for at least a few hours. How the hell could they get through something like that?! A silence filled the crowd, interrupted only by the loud retching of one of the boys, who could no longer keep his breakfast in his stomach.

"Okay this is what we'll do!" Jimmy shouted quickly "Me and Eve will go on through before you guys, avoiding any awkwardness and any further harm to your girl-fearing friends." The group nodded eagerly to this "then you guys, say in fifteen - or twenty, better make it twenty - minutes, head off yourselves, that will give us enough time to have worked our way in a fair bit. Given our average length of legs it can be assumed that we will all be walking at around the same pace so there shouldn't be any worry of you guys catching up and walking with us." One of the boys pulled out a calculator and started punching numbers; he then nodded to Jimmy to confirm that this was indeed correct. A sigh of relief passed through the assembled crowd. Daniel turned to Jimmy with an expression of relief that he attempted to disguise as smugness.

"Well for now, I suppose all that's left to say is, see you later you useless loser" Daniel laughed, sticking out his tongue. Jimmy stared at him for a moment as an awkward silence filled the air.

"Yeah...well I'm gonna head off now-"

"Yeah cool, see you later, but you know, as like rivals"

"Yeah I get what you mean-"

"Because we're not friends and-"

"Yeah I get it-"

"Okay cool, sorry, no but I'm not sorry, because you're my rival and we're enemies and-"

"Yeah I know what you mean. So, I'm gonna go now."

"Yeah...cool...bye."

After finally separating themselves from the embodiment of awkwardness, Jimmy and Eve finally reached the entrance to Viridian Forest. The doors of the building opened onto a crisp layer of freshly fallen leaves, shadowed by a huge collage of trees of varying sizes. The forest was vast and the paths, though clear to begin with, seemed to disappear off into nowhere. Jimmy could clearly see dozens of pokémon moving around beneath the foliage, swinging through the trees and defecating on the foot paths. He reached into his back and felt for the rough outer skin of his Sandshrew. "Come on now, there isn't any rain here," Jimmy said, attempting to drag Sandshrew out of the bag. Sandshrew wasn't on board however and began working his way further into the bag. The seams of the bag began to stretch as Sandshrew attempted to move itself into non-existent space. Suddenly there was a loud ripping sound and Sandshrew came hurtling out of the bottom of the bag amidst a stream of dry rice and dirty underwear. Jimmy clutched his recently emptied bag limply in his hands. With a huge sigh, he dropped his bag onto the ground and carried on walking.

As they worked their way through the forest a few adventurous wild pokémon attempted to step into their path, but were quickly slapped out of the way by a very grumpy Sandshrew. "Why are you in such a mood," Jimmy asked, attempting to keep up with Eve's ridiculous power-walk "if you're that bothered about resting you could just go inside your pokéball. Sandshrew shot Jimmy a shut-the-hell-up-kid look and scrambled onto Eve's back. Eve began to giggle and undid the top of her bag.

"If you want a bag to rest in you could always use mine," Eve said, gesturing to the bag. Sandshrew looked inside the bag, took a sniff and suddenly bolted off Eve's bag, landing on Jimmy's back. Jimmy was not prepared for the sudden impact and was thrown to the floor. It was there that he locked eyes with something yellow, fuzzy and bad tempered.

It doesn't take a scientist to know that any amount of electricity coursing through one's body is not a good amount of electricity. Jimmy learned this first hand, his body juttering into spasm. Jimmy lay on the ground, his clothes smoking. Though mostly unharmed he felt somewhat worse for wear. Before Jimmy could utter a plea for help Eve had already begun to let out a high pitched squeal.

"Is that a – it is – that's an actual Pikachu. They're meant to be really rare. Catch it Jimmy!" Jimmy stared up at eve and raised an eyebrow.

"So wait, you're actually telling me to catch a pokémon, doesn't that kind of go against your entire way of life?" Eve shook her head aggressively.

"If you were to tame it through battling then I would certainly object, but you have a gift with pokémon, Jimmy I know you'll be able to convince it to join us with your words and actions along." Jimmy looked over at Sandshrew, who was looking at the Pikachu with intense scorn, over to the Pikachu who was gearing up to another round of its own brand of electro-shock therapy.

` "Right, erm, hey there, umm Pikachu-" Jimmy's words were interrupted by another torrent of electricity, that sent his body flying across the path.

"I think you might really be getting through to it!" Eve shouted, chasing to catch up with Jimmy's propelled body.

"That's great," Jimmy said spitting out a mouthful of dirt, "maybe soon it'll move onto clawing my eyes out."

"That's the spirit," Eve shouted, patting a confused and slightly traumatized looking Sandshrew on the head. The Pikachu continued to send torrents of electricity through Jimmy's body and Jimmy continued to be propelled up the footpath. After about 10 minutes of continuing shocking the Pikachu seemed to have grown tired. It walked over to Jimmy's face and patted its soft paw on his face.

"Chu" The Pikachu said, giving a solemn nod, it seemed it was impressed with Jimmy's resilience. Pikachu turned to Sandshrew and took him by the hand and the two began conversing. As Jimmy pulled himself to his feet the Pikachu bounded back over to him, jumped up his leg and latched itself onto his belt.

"Wait, what the hell are you doing?" Jimmy shouted, attempting to shake the grappling Pikachu off his belt. One of his pokéballs loosened from his belt and fell to the floor. Jimmy looked down as Pikachu jumped onto it. "Wait, really?" Jimmy asked as the Pikachu attempted to press its face against the outer side of the ball. The Pikachu looked up and nodded. Jimmy picked the ball up off the floor and looked down at the Pikachu. "Well, if you're sure." He threw the ball at Pikachu, who disappeared in a burst of light inside the pokéball. "Did...did I just catch a pokémon?" Jimmy looked down at the orb with awe in his eyes before Eve suddenly collided into the side of him and tried to wrestle it out of his hands.

"Let it out already, you can't keep it cooped up forever!"

"Okay, just give me a second!" Jimmy said, attempting to wrestle the ball back off her "I just spent the last fifteen minutes without any control of the muscles in my body, I think I've earned this moment." He looked down at the ball, feeling a moment of pride at how far he had come already. Granted, he hadn't actually fought the pokémon and it had most likely joined him out of pity alone, but that didn't matter, he now had a second pokémon.

Jimmy and Eve both agreed that it would be a good idea for them to rest up for a moment, at least until Jimmy had regained feeling in his everything. He sat with his Sandshrew and Pikachu both relaxing against Eve's bag, eating whatever was left of Jimmy's weekly food rations.

"I just thought," Eve suddenly piped up, with such volume and enthusiasm that a group of Kakuna dropped out of their tree in shock "Have you given a nickname to either of your pokémon yet?"

"Given them a nickname? Is that necessary?"

"Some trainers choose to do it; I suppose it's a personal preference."

"Huh, really, I can't see any reason why anyone would bother.

"Alright Whiskers, finish him off with a quick attack!" The young man's Rattata charged towards the wild Weedle, which arched its head ready for the impact. Whiskers was not able to react fast enough and soon collided with the stinger on the top of the Weedle's head. "No Whiskers!" The young man shouted as his Rattata attempted to keep itself on its legs. The Weedle charged in for the finishing move, sending Whiskers flying through the air at the trainer's feet.

The trainer ran back through the forest, holding the pokéball containing his unconscious pokémon. "I'm sorry Whiskers," he said, reaching a clearing "but I've got to stick to my principles. He pulled out his pokédex and hooked his pokéball up to it. He clicked through the menu until it came up with the option "Release". He looked down at his pokéball and wiped a tear away from his eye. "I hope you find a better trainer than me out there Whiskers" he clicked the button and the pokéball shot open, releasing the Rattata out into the wild. The young trainer watched as the pokémon scuttled away into the bushes. He pulled out a sheet of paper and grabbed a pen. "Whiskers the Rattata, Route 1" he pressed his pen to the paper and drew a big line through it. "Well that's a crappy start."


	5. Episode 5 – The Shadowed Stranger

**Episode 5 – The Shadowed Stranger**

"Okay Pikachu! Hit it with a Thundershock!" Jimmy lunged forward, his arm swinging in the direction of the vicious Caterpie that had just crawled along the path. Pikachu turned its head towards Jimmy and then tilted it with a confused expression. "Don't hold back; show them what we've got!"

"I don't think Pikachu feels like fighting," Eve said, relaxing on a tartan picnic blanket. "Maybe he just wants to live his life by his own rules; did you ever think of that?" Jimmy turned around quickly, his brow furrowed angrily

"If he wanted that sort of lifestyle why would did he let himself get captured by me?" Eve started laughing hysterically, kicking her legs back and staring up at the evening sky.

"No, but seriously, why don't you both just relax for a bit? I have green tea and carrot cake that needs to be eaten before the Weedles get to it." Sandshrew nodded gleefully, chomping into his own slice of cake. Jimmy looked back at the Caterpie which was now inspecting a nearby tree branch with great intrigue. He then saw his father's judgmental gaze in his mind's eye, urging him to continue on.

"Do you have any biscuits?"

The lone youth walked through the forest, carefully treading over fallen branches and avoiding the glare of the creatures lurking in the trees. He looked down at his pokéballs, he had three left, all of them injured and one of them poisoned. With each step that poison would set in further. He looked down at the ground and counted each step he took. How many did he have left? 100? 200? Nowhere near enough to get to a Pokémon Center on time. Why did he let himself into this situation? He should have been prepared. All he could do now was rely on a trainer to help him and hope with all his heart that they don't see him as an easy target.

"Do you ever wonder what the stars are made from?" Jimmy asked staring up at the sky "I mean, really made of, I know they're hot and bright but how does that even work? I suppose that sort of thing is kinda beyond human understanding." Eve nodded and let out a yawn.

"Well I think it's mostly a series of hydrogen based fusion reactions, constantly exploding within themselves, generating both light and most of all heat." She said, closing her left eye "what we really have to wonder is how stable are these stars? Could their own magnetic field fail and send torrents of heat out into the galaxy, wiping out entire solar systems in their paths? I mean what if our own sun, suddenly decided to start blasting us with deadly blasts of gamma radiation, or worse yet, simply incinerate our entire atmosphere. Though I suppose that wouldn't matter too much because in the time it would take us to notice we would have already been burnt alive. Which I suppose is what makes the universe so beautiful." Jimmy didn't comprehend the majority of what Eve said, but understood enough to leave him wide eyed and shaking. He rolled over onto his front and stared with great interest at the fibers of the picnic blanket. Suddenly there was a loud crunch and Jimmy leapt to his feet, ready to outrun the impending infernal armageddon. Eve also sat up quickly, staring through the late-evening darkness at a shadowy figure approaching. As the initial shock of his impending death sent the remainder of his adrenaline surging through his body, Jimmy began to calm himself down. Following Eve's gaze, he too caught sight of the shadowy figure. Jimmy went from one panic-attack to another and leapt behind Eve, attempting to coil himself under the picnic blanket.

"Eve!" Jimmy whisper-yelled "get out of sight quickly." The figure stopped in his tracks for a moment and appeared to be looking at something. Eve ignored Jimmy and started waving her arms into the air.

"Hey! Over here, we have tea and cake." Jimmy attempted to grab Eve, but she instantly pinned him to the ground in an arm lock "Oh, sorry Jimmy," she said, taking her knee out of the small of her back "old habits, as they say." The figure looked up towards them and then seemed to spot them. Jimmy's heart began punching his rib-cage aggressively and his sweaty hands were twisted around the picnic blanket. The figure appeared to yell something towards them but it was completely incomprehensible. "What?" Eve shouted back, which was most likely redundant as _she_ couldn't hear what _he_ was saying. "Can you come a bit closer, you're way too far away." The figure looked down at his feet again and waved his arm from left to right to signify that he could not. "I think he might need our help," Eve said, rolling up her sleeves, "I'm going over to see what I can do."

"What?" Jimmy exclaimed, his heart now supplying the backing track to a pendulum album "It's dark, there's a stranger, we can't see him, he could be dangerous, the sun could burn us to death and all life that we know extinguished and he might be a murderer!" Eve turned to Jimmy and frowned.

"Now it wouldn't be right to leave someone in need hanging like that," Eve said, brushing grass off her skirt, "I'm going to see if he's alright, you can stay here if you like." Eve walked off leaving Jimmy sat with a cringing Pikachu, Sandshrew and Togepi.

As Eve approached the figure, the faint light that the sky was providing helped show the features of his face. He was a young looking man, though possibly a few years older than Jimmy and herself. He had straight blonde hair and bright blue eyes. His facial features were soft and he would look almost feminine if it wasn't for the dirt on his face and the bags under his eyes. He wore a blue jacket over a turquoise polo-shirt and a pair of tattered skinny-jeans held up by a black fabric belt. He stood very still, holding his hands out to keep himself balanced. As Eve came into his view an awkward smile came across his face.

"I might need your help." He said, gesturing down to his belt.

Jimmy sat on the picnic blanket watching intently as Eve approached the shadowy figure. He had ordered Pikachu and Sandshrew to keep guard but they seemed keener on playing out the dungeons and dragons campaign that Togepi was DMing. The figure of Eve looked at the shadowy figure who seemed to gesture down towards his belt. The figure of Eve then seemed to look down with interest and instantly got down to her knees and reached towards his belt. Jimmy shot up, his adrenaline now kicking him into Jason Statham levels of adrenaline. He ran as fast as he could over to the figure.

"You've got to make sure to spray it all." Eve said as Jimmy approached "but try not to get it all over my dress."

"The hell are you guys doing?" Jimmy shouted, grabbing at Eve's shoulder, who instinctively grabbed his arm and threw him over her shoulder onto his back.

"Oh Jimmy, you've got to stop doing that!" Jimmy stared up at the other figure, who he had trouble deciphering if he was a guy or a handsome girl. Either way, he had some slightly confusing and conflicting thoughts.

"Hey, you must be Jimmy," the young man spoke, in a voice that Jimmy noted was threateningly more deep and masculine than his own. Jimmy turned to see that the young man was bent over a shaking Male Nidoran, apparently applying a potion to its wounds. An empty antidote bottle lay to the right of him. "My name's Chris and you guys have honestly saved me from a whole load of crap.

Chris sat with Jimmy and Eve on the picnic blanket, leaving marginally less space to spread out. Chris was enthusiastically munching his way through a slice of carrot cake whilst Jimmy stared at him inquisitively. "So, you're a pokémon trainer?" Jimmy asked, rather like a father asks his daughter's boyfriend what he does for a living.

"Well...yeah" Jimmy said, gulping down his mouthful of cake "I mean, aren't most people our age?" Eve looked around uncomfortably and Jimmy feigned agreement.

"So you're out on an adventure on your own, I suppose you're just starting like the rest of us." Jimmy said, taking a sip of his tea in the most masculine manner he could manage "I myself have managed to catch a Pikachu already." Chris nodded and looked around at the Pikachu, rolling his 20 sided dice.

"Well yes and no I suppose. To be honest I've been out on my adventure for...coming up to three years now." Jimmy let out a loud scream as he spilt hot tea all over his chest.

"Three years? How have you...I mean, why are you-?"

"-In Viridian Forest?" Chris took another bite of his cake and looked up at the sky. "Well y'see, I...well I wanted a new challenge in my life. When I first set out I wanted to catch them all, like everyone else, which was fine, I did catch a whole bunch," Jimmy winced and nodded "but the further I got, the more I felt like it wasn't enough you know? So I got to this point where I wanted a new type of challenge, one that didn't involve just collecting creatures. So I went onto a message board, posted some stuff and some anonymous guy told me about this challenge that only the bravest and most talented trainers could ever face."

"And so obviously you thought that was perfect for you-" Jimmy said, facetiously.

"Well, yeah" Chris replied, apparently oblivious to Jimmy's blatant sarcasm, "so after doing some research I decided I'd give it a try. So to start out I released all my pokémon-"

"-Released all your-" Jimmy shouted, loud enough to distract Sandshrew from his crucial saving throw.

"-Yeah I know!" Chris said quickly, a grin spreading across his face, "it wasn't easy, especially with that many of them. But I got myself fixed up with a weak starter and set off again. Now the rule that's really kicking my ass is the one where I can only catch the first pokémon I encounter on a new route." Chris pulled out a list from his pocket and showed it to Jimmy and Eve. "As you can see, I started with a Bulbasaur, she's called Ivy, I caught a Rattata on Route 1, she was called Whiskers, I caught a Pidgey on Route 2, he's called Gus, then there was my Nidoran, on route 23, he's called Nial and finally the Pikachu I caught in Viridian Forest, he's called Sparks." Jimmy stared at Chris, his jaw hanging limply as he attempted to comprehend it all. "But sadly Whiskers didn't make it, which was a real kicker as it meant I had to release her, that's the most frustrating rule. I hope she's happier this way though, if I let her get to that state then I'm not really worthy to be her trainer."

"Wow you're so cool," Eve said, smiling girlishly at Chris "I think Jimmy might be doing a challenge like that too, though he's only caught one Pokémon so far." The blood in Jimmy's body seemed to rise up into his face, causing him to start inspecting the fabric of the picnic blanket again. Chris looked over at Jimmy's pokémon, who were all filling in their playsheets for the day and packing everything away. Chris pulled his Pokédex out of his pocket and pointed it towards Jimmy's pokémon. He raised an eyebrow and then placed the Pokédex back in his jacket pocket. Jimmy noticed Chris' awkward expression.

"What did you just do?" he asked, somewhat aggressively. Chris turned back to Jimmy and gave a slightly awkward shrug, "what? Seriously what is it?" Chris developed a slight pained expression on his face as he looked back across at Jimmy's pokémon.

"It's just...well I mean, if you were actually doing my challenge I suppose it would be okay, maybe just kinda bad luck but-"

"-But what? Jimmy was now glaring at Chris, his adrenaline and fear of emasculation driving him to new levels of aggression.

"It's just...your pokémon, their...their natures." Jimmy frowned and sat back down. He had heard something about natures back in school, but never really bothered to pay any note. "I mean, a Relaxed Pikachu? Defence is important I guess, but it'll barely get it any higher even with the right EV training and god knows what you're gonna do with a Modest Sandshrew, I mean I don't think it can even learn any special attack moves." Jimmy stared at Chris and then over at his pokémon.

"I have no idea what you just said but you better shut your mouth before it's filled with your teeth."

"Isn't my mouth already filled with my teeth?"

"Your teeth that will no longer be attached! Because I will have hit you so hard that they come out of your gums!" Jimmy yelled, pulling at his hair with anguish. "What do you even want anyway, you come over here with your experience, your wit, your beautiful hair and your stupid face and what do you expect from me?!" There was an awkward silence, punctuated only by the shuffling of Whiskers the Rattata who was prowling the forest for the Rattata of her dreams, ready to start their new lives together.

"Yeah, well, I see that I'm kind of getting in the way here," Chris said, standing up slowly "I mean, I don't really want to be the guy getting between a guy and his girl-"

"-We're not going out," Eve said quickly, instinctively pulling at Chris' jacket, "Jimmy's just...shy around new people, aren't you Jimmy." Eve shot a piercing glance at Jimmy that instantly extinguished and subsequently froze the flames of war that had fired up within his soul.

"Whatever," Jimmy said, slumping face first onto the ground "it's not as though it'll make much of a difference to what we do anyway." Chris looked down at the two of them and then slowly lowered himself back down again. Eve smiled and pulled Chris into a reluctant embrace.

"Thanks," Chris said, after Eve had released him from her squeeze "to be honest, I could do with having some travelling partners with me, this challenge is difficult enough as it is but you wouldn't believe how many people will challenge you when you're on your own, I probably wouldn't make it to Pewter without some ass-hat KOing all my party."

"What happens if all your pokémon get knocked out?" Eve asked, staring intently at the perfect shape of his cheek-bones.

"Well I'd have to go get a new starter pokémon all over again."

"Wow, that would suck," Jimmy said, trying with his least amount of effort to conceal a smirk.

"Yeah," Chris said, staring into the middle distance, "it really does." Chris lay onto his back and let his eyes close "but you know what they say: seventh time's the charm." Jimmy's eyebrows raised but his mind had had enough for one day. Curling up into the fetal position he let his eyes close. Eve was the last to doze off; she sat staring at the stars up in the sky, the death orbs of destruction that also gave life. Perhaps everything has its two sides, the Ying to the Yang, the lazy from the hard working, the successes from the failures. Perhaps one cannot exist without the other, though through coexistence they continue to react with each other. Eve let out a yawn and let her eyes closed. She always thought about philosophical crap before sleep.


End file.
